Feathering propeller



NOV. 20, 1934-. T. H JACKSON 1,981,597

FEATHERING PROPELLER Filed Jan. 10, 1955 s Sheets-Shed 1 Q LT Q 1| U U ha w HIHIII 'I NOV. 20, 1934. T, H. JACKSON 1,981,597

FEATHERING PROPELLER Filed Jan, 10, 1933 s Sheets-Sheet 2 Nov. 20, 1934. T. H. JACKSON FEATHERING PROPELLER Filed Jan, 10, 1933 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 3 M c/yvbo't/ 77/01/20.: b! Jackson Nov. 20, 1934. H A K N 1,981,597

FEATHERING PROPELLER Filed Jan. 10, 1933 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 77/0010: Jae/ son 1934- T. H, JACKSON FEATHERING PROPELLER Filed Jan. 10, 1935 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 1934- T. H. JACKSON FEATHERING PROPELLER Filed Jan. 10, 1933 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 a. we

QQNN SUM Patented Nov. 20, 1934 UNlTED STATES PATENT FFICE I 6 Claims.

The invention relates to propellers and has as an object the provision of a novel form of feathering blade propeller.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a propeller which may be made to pull in any direction normal to its axis while its drive 7 means is revolving in a single direction.

t is a further object of the invention to provide a propeller of a form adaptable for aeronautical or marine propulsion.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a propeller adaptable to marine propulsion which when largely submerged may be adjusted to drive a vessel forward or backward without reversing the drive mechanism.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a propeller which avoids the throbbing of the screw propeller, and being silent is peculiarly valuable in military or naval use.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a propeller enabling very ready maneuvering of a dirigible or submersible vessel by virtue of its convenient adjustment to pull at any portion of its revolution.

Further objects of the invention will appear from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings showing illustrative embodiments of the invention, and wherein:-

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the device shown as applied to a marine vessel;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the device shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a modified form of propeller and a modification of the attaching means thereof to a boat;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the form of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a detail section on line 55 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a detail central vertical section upon an enlarged scale;

Fig. '7 is a detail section of a modification of the structure shown at the lower portion of Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a side elevation of an aeronautical adaptation of the invention; and

Fig. 9 is a front elevation of the structure of Fig. 6 showing a form of control means adapted for aeronautical use.

In Figs. 1 to 5 inclusive the device is illustrated as applied to a boat 10. In Figs. 1 and 2 there is shown a frame comprising side members 11, 12. A rudder is shown at 14.

The propeller provided by the invention is shown in Figures 1 to 5 inclusive as driven by a power shaft 15 through universal joint 16 and a 55 suitable form of gear in a gear box' 17 driving tubular members 18, 19 projecting from the gear box, which tubular members may be integral within the gear box.

Secured upon the members 18 and 19 are the frames for the feathering propellers 20, 21 which are similar and therefore a descriptionof one will apply to both. As shown there is secured to the tubular hub or sleeve member 18 or 19 a plurality of open frames 22, shown as four in number, which are rigidly secured to thetubular drive member in any desired manner as by bolts or welding.

Received at their ends in each of the frames 22 are fra. res 23 rectangular in outline and provided with openings 24 in their members which extend parallel with the drive shaft in which arms 25 are journalied. Desirably roller bearings are provided about the arms 25 carried by the perforated portion of the frames 23, such roller bearings not shown being located at 26 in Fig. 6.

Carried by the arms 25 are propeller blades 27, 28. For marine use the separate blades 27, 28 are provided upon the arms25 for a reason to be described but it will be understood that these blades may be in one piece, thus closing the opening shown in Fig. l therebetween. To manipulate the blades to cause them to feather and to be swung together in the position shown at 29, Fig. 2, one set of the arms is extended beyond the members 30 of the frames 23, bent at an angle to provide a crank i5, which crank is provided with a roller member 31.

A shaft 32 is shown extended continuously through the tubular hub or sleeve members 18 and 19 upon'which shaft said tubular membersv rotate upon antifriction bearings indicated at 33, 34, Fig. 6.

.Rigidly mounted upon the shaft 32 are cam members 35 which cam members may be rotated as by means of a sprocket chain 36 passing about sprocket wheel 37 on the shaft 32 and a sprocket wheel 38 upon a stub shaft carried upon the boat 10, which stub shaft may be manipulated by means of a lever 39 and maintained in its adjusted position by any desired means, as for instance by a pin 40 passing through the lever and engaging openings in an arcuate member 41 secured to the boat.

The preferred form of the cams 35 is illustrated in Figs. 1 andt. As shown in Fig. l'the rollersSl will be pressed away from the shaft at the point 42 and will be allowed to approach the shaft at the point 43 of the cam. To cause the arms 25 not provided with the crank 45 to partake of the movement of the arms so pro,-

vided, there is shown in Fig. 6 a pair of toothed racks 46, 47 having their rack teeth in engagement so that the blades 27 and 28 will be caused to swing in unison. When the cranks 45 are actuated by the cams 35, as at the point 42, the blades will be caused to close into the position shown at the right in Fig. 1, and when the point 43 is reached the rollers will be free to approach the drive shaft thereby causing the blades to feather into the open position shown at the lower side of Fig. 6 and atthe bottom of Fig. 2, for the remainder of their rotation to the point 42.

By rotation of the shaft 32 it will be seen that the portion of the revolution in which the blades are closed may be brought to any portion of the periphery of the revolution of the propeller. When used as shown in Fig. 1, the blades 27 only are submerged at the upper portion of the propeller and when the lever 39 and cams 35 are moved to cause the blades to close at this point, the propeller will drive the boat in reverse. Only the forward drive and the reverse are desirable for marine use and allowing the propeller to throw the blades 28 clear of the water, as shown in Fig. 1, sufiicient reversing power will be'secured and the drag upon the water of the propeller will be lessened.

In the modification of Figs. 3 and 4 the propeller blades 27 of- Fig. 1 are omitted and the arms 25 are made longer than shown in the modification of Fig. 1. Spacing bars 56 are placed between the arms and extend outwardly to pro vide Outriggers, antifriction bearings being preferably provided at 66 in which the arms 25 may revolve.

In the application of this form of the invention to'a boat, standards 70 are shown attached to the gunwale of the boat adjacent the stern in which standards a shaft 71 is journalled having rigidly attached thereto the arms 11 carrying the shaft 32 upon which the propellers are mounted. In this form of the invention the propellers are driven by means of a tube 72 rotatable on shaft 32 driven by a sprocket 73 by means of a chain 74 passing about a sprocket '75 rigidly secured upon a tube 76 freely rotatable between collars 77 upon shaft 71. The tube 76 also carries' a pair of bevel gears 78, 79 adapted to be driven selectively by means of a bevel gear 80 carried by a shaft 81 journalled in bearings 82, 83 affixed to a pair of spaced parallel shafts 84, 85, which latter shafts are longitudinally slidable in bearings 86, 87, 88, 89 mounted in standards 90, 91 carried by the gunwhales of the boat. By sliding the shafts84, in their bearings by any convenient means, as for instance a hantration but it will be understood that this motor 'may be directly below shaft'8l whereby shifting of shafts 84, 85 will not objectionably vary the tension of the chain 94.

The arms 11' and the propeller carried thereby may be raised or lowered as for instance by means of a sprocket 97 mounted upon a stub shaft 98 journalled upon the gunwale of the boat and a sprocket chain 99 passing about a sprocket 100 keyed upon shaft 71. The shaft 98 may be caused to adjust the angle of the arms 11' by means of a lever 101 under control of a ratchet 102 and a dog coacting therewith. By this means the propeller may be raised for shallow water and lowered for deeper water and for increased driving power.

To control the cams 35 the shaft 32 may be rotated by means of a chain 36 passing about a sprocket 37' and about an idle sprocket 103 and an idle roller 104 to cause the chain to pull about the axis of the shaft 71, the chain 38' being driven by a sprocket 1G5 upon a stub shaft 105 under control of a lever 107 whose movements are controlled by means of a ratchet sector 198 and dog 109 which may be of the same form as the control for the shaft 98. By this means cams 35 can be moved so as to close blades in any position desired.

For aerial use the form of the invention shown in Figs. 8 and 9 may be adopted wherein the control and drive mechanism is similar to that already described but wherein the blades are continuous, and provided with balancing portions 52 extending beyond the arms 25 thereby not only lessening the strain upon the cam 35 but also increasing width of the blades to present agreater surface to the air.

In this form of the invention also struts 53 are shown connected to the blades 27, 52 and passing over arms 54 at their central portion, said struts acting in tension to increase the stiffness of the blades. Any desired number of said struts may be applied, two being shown upon each blade for purposes of illustration. Also in the form of Figs. 8 and 9, guys 55 are applied at theends of outrigger arms 56 carried by the arms 25 and passing from arm to arm to transmit strain from the pulling to the non-pulling arms at any moment. The Outriggers 56 are provided to carry the guys 55 clear of the balancing portions 52 of the blades, as will be made clearv from Fig. 9. The outrigger arms are shown as extending across between the arms 25 to maintain their spacing, and antifriction bearings 66 are indicated in which the arms 25 oscillate.

In this form of the invention the device may be applied to dirigibles by provision of bearings 57 upon the shell of the ship through which the tubular drive shafts 58 extend and within which the continuous control shaft 59 rotates for manipulation of the earns 35. The shaft 59 is therefore exposed at its center to receive the control wheel 60 shown as mounted upon the shaft 59. The shaft 59 is shown as supported at its center in a standard 61-.

The wheel 60 may be held in its adjusted position as by any desired latch means 62 taking into the standard 61. So arranged it will be seen that the shaft 59 may be completely and freely rotated by virtue of which rotation the cams 35 may be 1 turned to anyposition and the pulling portion of the blades may thus be shifted to any desired portion of the revolution, of the propeller enabling the propeller to drive the ship forward or backward or to lift or depress the same while the" tubular drive shafts 58' are being rotated continuously in a single direction.

It is at present preferred to form the cams 35 or '35 so as to cause the propeller to pull in substantially one-fourth of its revolution but this proportion may be readily shifted to increase or decrease the proportion of drive to feathering by an appropriate and obvious modification of the cams.

The propulsive effect of the blades has a tendency to swing them to open position which is resisted by the cranks 45. The blades may if desired be made somewhat springy so that an unsafe pressure thereon may cause them to slightly separate and thus relieve the pressure.

In the modification of Fig. 7, the racks 46, 4'? are substituted by an arm 63 pivoted between lugs 64, 65 to cause the arms to move in unison towards closing or feathering position.

When in operation the rollers 31 will be kept in contact with the cams 35 by pressure of the air or water. When the device is at rest the air or water currents may cause movement of the blades if not prevented. To hold the rollers in substantial contact with the cams at all times, a guard member is shown for purposes of illustration upon Figs. 6 and 8, which it will be understood may be applied to all forms. As there shown brackets 110 are shown secured to the cam 35 and a rod 111 substantially concentric with the cam, carried by the ends of the bracket, thus preventing the rollers from leaving the cam any substantial distance.

It will be seen that when used in air the sudden closure of the blades to driving position will tend to somewhat compress air between the blades so that when they arrive at the driving position they will be already loaded so as to immediately exert their full driving effect. Also during the latter part of their driving action, air seeking to escape about their inner ends will be pocketed against the preceding pair which is about to open but not yet opened, thus increasing the pull.

Minor changes may be made in the physical embodiments of the invention within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit thereof.

I claim:

1. A propeller comprising, in combination: a rotatable shaft; a hub freely rotatable on said shaft; means to drive said hub; a frame secured on said hub; a pair of spaced arms projecting substantially radially to said hub and journalled in said frame, a cam fixed on said shaft adjacent one end of said hub; a crank fixed to one of said arms and contacting said cam to cause movement of the arm about its axis; means coacting between said arms to cause complemental action therebetween; blades fixed upon said arms; edges of said blades brought together and feathered by action of said cam, and means to adjustably turn said shaft to vary the feathering and driving positions of the blades.

2. A marine propeller comprising, in combination: a shaft; a plurality of pairs of spaced substantially parallel arms projecting substantially radially of the shaft; means to mount each arm on the shaft for oscillation about the axis of the arm; spaced blades attached adjacent an edge of each to each of said arms; one blade upon each arm adjacent the free end of the arm and another blade adjacent the shaft end of the arm; means to oscillate the arms to move said blades between positions with their blade edges in contact upon the pairs of arms and feathering position of the blades; said means comprising a cam rotatable relative to the shaft coacting with crank means extending from at least one arm of each pair; means to drive the shaft; means to rotate the cam; and means to mount the device upon a vessel with at least the shaft-adjacent blades submerged.

3. A propeller comprising, in combination: a hub; means to rotate said hub; a frame secured to said hub; a pair of spaced arms journalled in said frame; blades secured between their edges upon the respective arms; an arm projecting from each blade toward the remaining blade; struts connected at their ends to the blades adjacent their edges and passing over the ends of said arms to prevent deflection of the blades under strain; and means to move the arms to bring the edges of the blades substantially into contact and to feather the blades at desired portions of revolution of the hub.

4. A propeller structure comprising, in combination: a freely rotatable shaft; a hub freely rotatable on said shaft; means to drive said hub; a plurality of pairs of spaced arms extending substantially radially from said hub and mounted on said hub for oscillation of each upon its own axis; a blade carried by each arm for oscillation therewith between feathering and driving position; a crank arm carried by one arm of each pair projecting beyond an end of said hub; a cam fixed upon said shaft to be contacted by said crank arms to cause oscillation of said crank carrying arms; means to cause movement of oscillation of the remaining arms from said crank carrying arms and means to rotate said shaft and cam and to hold the same in any desired position of rotation.

5. A propeller structure comprising, in combination: a shaft; a hub mounted on said shaft; a plurality of open rectangular frames secured radially upon said hub; a second open rectangular frame secured to the radially projecting sides of each of the first named frames, in planes perpendicular to the planes of the first named frames; a pair of arms oscillatably mounted in said second named frames to project tangentially of the hub; propeller blades secured upon each of said arms to be moved between feathering positions, and driving positions with edges of blades upon each pair of arms substantially in contact; and means to A oscillate said arms between the named positions of the blades.

6. A propeller structure comprising, in combination: a rotatably mounted shaft; a pair of sleeves freely rotatable on said shaft a propeller mounted on each sleeve comprising feathering blade equipped paddle wheels; a cam fixed on said shaft adjacent each propeller; means for controlling feathering of said blades by said cams;

driving means applied to said sleeves between said paddle wheels; and means to rotatably adjust said shaft to time the feathering of the blades of the paddle wheels.

THOMAS H. JACKSON. 

